Philip Shaibu, the Deputy Governor of Edo State, has refuted claims that he received an impeachment notice from the State House of Assembly.
This comes after the Assembly Speaker, Blessing Agbebaku, announced during a session on Monday that Shaibu had ignored the notice, prompting the House to resort to serving him through national newspapers.
In a letter dated March 12, 2024, addressed to the Speaker and titled “RE: Service of Impeachment Notice,” signed by Shaibu’s Personal Assistant, Charles Olubayo, Shaibu stated that he had not received such letter and had not declined to accept it.
He explained that he has been out of the state since March 3, making it impossible for him to have been served with the notice as claimed during the session.
The explanation went further to say:
“The Office of the Deputy Governor, Edo State wishes to draw your attention to the inaccuracies and misleading information that emanated from the plenary session of Monday, March 11, 2024, wherein Mr. Speaker directed that the impeachment notice be served on the Deputy Governor, Rt. Hon. Comrade Philip Shaibu through newspaper publications The Nigeria Observer and other national dailies, ‘sequel to the refusal of the Deputy Governor to acknowledge the impeachment notice.’
“Mr. Speaker was quoted to have also stated at the said plenary that ‘the action became necessary because the Deputy Governor refused to acknowledge an earlier impeachment notice sent to him through the Clerk of the House.’
“We wish to state categorically that no impeachment notice was ever served on the Deputy Governor let alone refusing to acknowledge the impeachment notice.
The Deputy Governor has since March 3, 2024 travelled out of Benin to Abuja and has not returned to Benin since the said March 3, 2024.
“The Clerk never saw the Deputy Governor whether in the office, at home or anywhere for that matter since the said date; hence surprised that the House resolved to publish the impeachment notice in the Observer and other national dailies because ‘the Deputy Governor refused to acknowledge the earlier impeachment notice sent to him through the Clerk of the House.’ One therefore wonders where the Clerk or his appointee served him the impeachment notice and he refused to acknowledge it.
“Neither the Clerk nor any person sent impeachment notice to the Deputy Governor which he refused to acknowledge. It is therefore our prayer that Mr. Speaker corrects the impression created in the public as the outcome of yesterday’s plenary to avoid misrepresentation in this all-important matter.”
